


Haunted Houses Make Good First Dates

by markesa



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, Fluff, Fun, Halloween, Happy, Haunted Houses, M/M, MCU AU, Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 21:43:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21168335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markesa/pseuds/markesa
Summary: Tony Stark loves Halloween. Creepy decorations, costumes, candy, everything. Which is why, naturally, he's volunteering at MIT's annual haunted house event. It has everything he loves: Spookiness, scariness, and...wait, is that Steve?





	Haunted Houses Make Good First Dates

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to write this little Halloween story because I recently volunteered at a haunted house myself. And while I was there, this came into my head, and I ended up writing it all in a night because I was so inspired (which is wow, good job @ my creativity). 
> 
> As usual, please feel free to leave some feedback, I'd love to hear from you guys!
> 
> And, Happy Halloween!

Tony Stark loved Halloween. Loved was probably an understatement, as Tony went _ all out _ for Halloween. Costumes? Check. Halloween parties? Check. Decorations? Double Check.

Which is why he now found himself sitting in a chair about to get his makeup done for a haunted house event. 

When he saw the Facebook post advertising that MIT’s annual haunted house needed scare actors, naturally he had immediately signed up. Because Halloween was his _ thing _, and if he got to dress up and scare the shit out of his classmates, all the better.

This year’s theme centered around clowns and circuses, which, any other time of the year, would not have been Tony’s favorite. But now, he couldn’t help but think about all the possible scares he could do dressed as a clown.

“So, got any ideas in particular for your look?” his assigned makeup artist asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Honestly, go crazy. I don’t care what you do so long as I look scary as fuck,” Tony grinned at her.

She laughed and nodded. “I can definitely do that,” She grabbed a sponge, dipped it in white face paint and began dabbing at his face. “So, what’s your name? I’m Darcy.”

“I’m Tony,” Tony answered, raising his chin a bit so she could cover his chin a little better. “You do this often?” he joked, leaning back in the chair a little.

“Actually, you’d be surprised,” Darcy laughed. “I actually often get hired to do makeup for events.” 

“Really? Like what?” Tony asked, his interest piqued. 

“Oh you know, anything from red carpet events to broadway actor makeup,” Darcy nonchalantly told him, tilting his head to the right as she worked on painting his face.

“Holy shit! So you’re practically a professional,” Tony raised his eyebrows.

Darcy snorted, shaking her head at him. “Not quite, but I try,” She dipped the sponge in the face paint again, now starting to cover the left side of his face. “It unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills, so I’m here getting a political science degree. But I’m currently drowning in my physics classes, so that’s super great.”

Damn, Tony thought, and here he thought he was well-rounded. “I actually am getting my doctorate in Physics, so if you ever need a study bud, I’m your man,” Tony offered.

“You’re getting your doctorate? Fuck, you look like you’re barely a freshman!” Darcy goggled at him, pausing temporarily with his makeup. “No offense.” Darcy hastily added.

“None taken, I kind of enjoy surprising people like that. Weird, I know,” Tony shook his head, tapping his foot against the chair as Darcy started outlining his lips with a red makeup pencil. “Benefits of having parents who let you get your bachelor’s degree while getting your high school diploma at the same time.” 

“Damn. I’d brag about it tons if I were you,” Darcy nodded. “But I seriously might take you up on that study offer.”

“Sure, I’ll give you my number, feel free to text any time. And I mean any time, I’m awake 24/7,” Tony quickly entered his phone number on Darcy’s iPhone. “Y’know just goes along with that mad scientist stereotype.”

“Honestly same. I’m up to 4am studying like every night,” Darcy sympathized. “You don’t mind that I gave you a Joker-like grin, do you?” She asked, abruptly changing the subject. 

“Nah, like I said, the scarier the better. I told my friends to come to this haunted house event, so if I can freak them out with my face, I’d be pretty stoked,” Tony assured her. 

“Okay, good, because seriously I wasn’t gonna change it if you didn’t like it,” Darcy sarcastically replied. “I’m super glad I practiced last night though because I haven’t done clown faces in a while.”

“Practice makes perfect,” Tony mumbled as Darcy outlines his eyes with black eyeliner. 

“Ugh, honestly,” Darcy replied. “I fucking got fake blood in my eye last night and that burned worse than shampoo so my roommate had to practically carry my pathetic ass to the bathroom so I could rinse my eyes.”

“Bet you wished you had an emergency eye wash station,” Tony joked.

“Seriously.” Darcy rolled her eyes. “That would have been a lifesaver. But don’t worry, I’ve got it down now, so you don’t have to worry about getting fake blood in your eyeballs.”

“Oh good, you had me worried there for a second there, Darcy,” Tony shook his head in mock exasperation. 

“Oh shut up, otherwise I’ll draw a big dick on your face and let you go out like that,” Darcy shot back at him goodnaturedly. 

“Sorry, but that won’t faze me, been there done that,” Tony quirked his eyebrows challengingly at Darcy who shook her head.

“Not even surprised, honestly. I’ve known you for like ten minutes, and I have no doubt that’s a situation you’ve been in. You’re just that type of chaotic.” 

“Aww, I’m flattered, darling,” Tony drawled as Darcy chuckled. 

“Hey, you see anyone else who needs makeup done?” A brown-haired woman next to them asked Darcy.

“Uh, maybe that guy?” Darcy answered, after a quick scan of the room. She pointed towards a blond guy standing awkwardly near the door. 

“Oh, I wasn’t sure if he was here as a scare actor; he’s just even hanging around the door the whole time.” The brunette frowned slightly.

“This is Jane,” Darcy told Tony, who immediately gave Jane one of his signature thousand watt smiles. 

“And you’re Tony,” Jane replied. “Don’t mind me, but I’ve just been listening in on your guys’ conversation since I had nobody’s makeup to work on.

“Eavesdrop much?” Tony laughed.

“All the time, just a talent of mine,” Jane grinned. “Now let me go coax that guy into joining the makeup party.”

“Good luck, I’m honestly not sure why he’s here, he looks terrified to be here, and this isn’t even the haunted house!” Darcy nudged her friend. 

“True,” Jane said and went to go get the mysterious guy. 

Tony craned his head to see the guy they were talking about. “I can’t see him,” Tony complained, as he began to get up out of the chair.

“Of course you can’t see him. There’s only like ten people getting their makeup done around us, and he’s all the way on the other side of the room. And, oh yeah, you’re sitting down?” Darcy huffed at him. “Anyway, hold your horses, the dude is gonna be getting his makeup done right next to you.” 

Tony sighed in agreement and slumped back down in the chair as Darcy finished applying the fake blood to his face. 

“Okay, so got any ideas of what you want to do?” Jane brought the guy over to sit in the chair next to Tony. And what do you know. It was none other than Steve fucking Rogers.

Steve Rogers, the guy who saved cats out of trees. Who was known as the friendliest guy on campus. Voted “kindest person” in high school (yes, Tony went to high school with him, so he would know). And a very talented art major. 

The only problem was that Steve and Tony had almost never talked, save for the time Tony had caused an evacuation in his high school thanks to a lab experiment gone wrong. He had happened to run into Steve during the evacuation, which was just fantastically mortifying. 

Tony had been cursing his dumb luck, and Steve, good, kindhearted Steve, had said, “I’m sure it will work out better next time!”

Which was totally a dumb thing to say, because of course it would work out better next time. It would have worked out just fine the first time had the school’s smoke detectors not been so sensitive.

But still, Steve’s comment had been kind and encouraging, and that definitely did not help appease the crippling crush Tony had had on Steve since freshman year of high school. Tony just wished their first (and to this date, most recent) interaction had been over something other than a stupid fire alarm. 

In any case, Steve was now sitting next to him, about to get scare actor makeup painted on his face. This was Tony’s big chance. Where he could dazzle Steve with his dashing looks and witty remarks. However, considering he currently looked like a crazed clown, maybe he would have to rely on the witty remarks only. 

“Heyyy, Steve! I’m Tony, from high school?” Tony grinned at Steve as Jane and Darcy turned around to open some more makeup packages.

“Tony! It’s nice to see you,” Steve warmly replied, turning his head to smile at Tony. “Your makeup looks very spooky.” Steve awkwardly added.

“I mean, I was hoping it’d look more on the side of terrifying and grotesque, but spooky works too, I guess,” Tony quipped. 

“Steve’s just being nice, it’s not polite to just tell people they look horrifying,” Darcy interjected, as she began drawing teeth along the extended red smile she had given Tony. 

“Anyway, Steve, is it fine with you if I just make you look dead? We’re technically on a clown theme, but it wouldn’t hurt to throw in a few dead people here and there, I think.” Jane swept her hair back with a scrunchie as she surveyed Steve. 

“Um, I’m fine with anything,” Steve tentatively replied.

“Looking dead’s better than looking like a manic clown, trust me,” Tony leaned over to say. “But hey, how’d you hear about this, Steve? If anything, I would think you’d be one of the makeup artists, y’know being an art major and all.” 

Steve shrugged his shoulders and gave a small laugh. “Yeah, haunted houses aren’t usually my thing. But Bucky, my best friend, wanted to go check it out, so I figured, why not be in on the act of scaring him?” 

“Ah, scaring a best friend is definitely a good reason,” Tony closed his eyes as Darcy finished darkening his eyes. 

"What about you? Why are you here?” Steve asked as Jane began to paint his face a sickly gray color.

“Well, I actually really fucking love Halloween, so naturally, I was all for signing up for this.” Tony tapped his sneakers noisily against his chair as he looked at Steve. “And, I want to scare the shit out of my best friends, Rhodey and Pepper.”

“And here I thought you’d be busy causing buildings to evacuate with your lab experiments,” Steve dryly responded, closing his eyes as Jane started applying gray eyeshadow to his eyelids. 

Tony barked out a laugh, feeling oh so great because yeah, that was probably Steve’s one and only memory of him: causing the high school to evacuate. “Okay, that was _ one time _—”

“Relax. Honestly, I find it cool that you’re working on stuff that could cause something that drastic to occur, and,” Steve hesitated for a second before continuing. “That’s probably one of my most favorite high school memories just because it was so out of the norm.”

“Uh, you’re welcome? I guess?” Tony stuttered, his stomach flip flopping. This was not how this was supposed to go. Tony was supposed to be suave and cool and nope, here he was being blindsided by Steve. 

“If you’re all done gaping at Steve, I’ve got other people that need their makeup done, buddy,” Darcy interrupted, lightly pushing Tony out of the chair. 

“Wait, I’m done?” Tony asked, reaching for the mirror on the table before them. He peered into the mirror. A deathly white face with a sickly red grin and splattered blood spots stared back at him. 

He looked _ freaky _. “Damn, Darcy, you’re talented,” Tony praised her, admiring his reflection.

Darcy snatched back the mirror as a red-haired girl took Tony’s previous seat. “That’s been established, now shoo, I’ve got my next customer.”

“Fine, I’ll stand in this corner and talk with Steve. Steve won’t tell me to shoo, right Steve?” Tony playfully smacked Steve’s shoulder.

“What’s that?” Steve opened one eye in confusion as Jane continued to apply his makeup.

“Okay, nevermind,” Tony groaned. “Steve isn’t even paying attention.” He stuck out his lower lip in mock frustration as he looked at Darcy.

“Because Steve has better things to do than listen to you,” Darcy sarcastically told him as she began mixing facepaints.

“Not true…” Steve mumbled as Jane coated his lips in some waxy substance. 

“Don’t try to lick or eat this off, it’s nasty and is the equivalent of plastic,” Jane warned as she finished dabbing the wax on Steve’s lips.

“Well, I just so happen to love licking plastic, so if you need help with that, I’m your man,” Tony suggestively wiggled his eyebrows as Steve blushed crimson. 

“Leave the poor man alone, honestly,” Darcy called out as Steve shifted uncomfortably in his chair. 

“The poor man looks dead. I think my brilliant comments are the least of his worries,” Tony called back as he examined Steve’s scare actor look. “Damn, Jane, you’re talented too.”

“I don’t think they would let us sign up for this event unless we were somewhat competent at makeup,” Jane shrugged her shoulders. “You’re all done, Steve.” She patted his shoulder and motioned at another person to come forward for their makeup.

“That quick?” Steve raised his eyebrows as he stood up. 

“Yep, they’ve got us on a tight schedule here,” Jane nodded at him as another student sat down before her. 

“Walk through of the scare scene is happening in ten minutes! We’ll be assigning posts, meet outside in the hallway!” Thor, the student body president, shouted over the chatter in the room.

“Looking forward to it!” Tony shouted back as Thor flashed him a thumbs-up. 

Thor was probably the second friendliest guy after Steve. He was known by everyone as a care-free, caring, hippy-like guy. And he also happened to be in charge of the haunted house event this year. Which meant the whole event was going to be very over-the-top. Thor was the type of guy that went big with anything he did, and Tony appreciated that. Especially when it concerned his favorite season. 

Tony turned back to Steve, casually tilting his head to look up at him. Steve may have just been a little bit taller than him. Not that Tony was short or anything (he was compact, okay?). 

So, how’s life been for you?” Tony asked while mentally smacking himself for that dumb question. Suave, Stark, Suave, he reminded himself. 

“Uh, it’s been good?” Steve ruffled his hair as he blinked at Tony. “What about you?”

“Same,” Tony glanced at the door. Couldn’t they get on to the walk through already? So that he and Steve could actually have something to talk about? Because this conversation was more awkward than that time Rhodey had to call the fire department to saw a chair off from around his head. Which was a long story. 

“Are you still working with lab-related stuff?” Steve asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Huh? Labs? Oh yeah! Yeah, yep, still doing that. Doctorate in physics and all that jazz,” Tony stumbled over his words. Clearly Steve had some kind of magical powers that severely incapacitated his speaking abilities. 

“Doctorate? Wow, Tony, that’s great!” Steve gasped, looking genuinely impressed. 

“Thanks, but not as cool as your art galleries. I’ve seen your work, it’s fucking amazing,” Tony truthfully told Steve.

“Thank you,” Steve said, his blush returning. “You’ve been to the galleries?”

“All of them,” Tony answered, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. “That sounds weird, but you’re just really talented, and I enjoy seeing your art, and I want to support you, even though we don’t really know each other, but I would see your art in high school so I kinda wanted to see your art in college, y’know kinda a continuity of some sort and—” Tony abruptly stopped, feeling his own face heat up under his scare actor makeup. Damn him and his tendency to ramble. Now Steve was going to think he was a crazed stalker or something.

“Wow, thank you, seriously. That means a lot to me, Tony. I really appreciate your support,” Steve beamed at him, seemingly unperturbed by Tony’s mini-rant. “If you’ve got any presentations or anything, I’d love to come and support you too.” Steve told him, sincerity radiating from his words.

“Really?” Tony blinked owlishly at Steve. “You’d want to come and listen to me talk about nanoparticles and alloys and shit?”

“Of course, you’re brilliant, Tony, I’d definitely enjoy seeing what you’re up to,” Steve replied, running a hand through his hair again. 

“Well, I could give you a lab tour any time. Seriously, just text me—oh! You don’t have my number! Here, let’s exchange numbers,” Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket as Steve did the same. “I’ll text you, and you can let me know when you’re free.”

“I’ll definitely do that,” Steve put his phone back in his pocket, as his smile grew wider. “The least I could do for a friend.”

“We’re friends?” Tony squeaked.

“Okay! Walk-through time!” Thor’s deep voice boomed from out in the hallway, thankfully giving Tony an excuse to turn away from Steve and freak out a bit. Because fuck, Steve thought they were friends! Fuck fuck fuck. This was absolutely crazy. Crazily great. Crazily fast. Crazily crazy. 

“You want to work at a station together?” Steve appeared next to him, eagerness plastered on his face, despite the deathly pallor of his skin (thanks to Jane’s makeup skills). 

“Sure,” Tony replied, his heart soaring. Steve _ wanted _ to work at a station with _ him _. God, as if Halloween couldn’t get any better. 

“Cool, I hope we can get a good station,” Steve followed Thor and the rest of the scare actors into the auditorium. 

“Yeah, a good station would be nice,” Tony echoed as he entered the decorated room. 

  
******************************

It seemed to be a decent station, as far as Tony was concerned. He and Steve had been paired with Clint and Natasha for the “haunted circus playground” station. 

Clint was a fucking contortionist and could balance precariously in a pretzel shape on the top of a small tower of boxes they had. Which was fucking creepy once they turned off the lights and Clint just stared down at people and laughed manically. 

Natasha could have been her own individual station. She embodied the word “scary.” Tony had tried to joke with her, but the deathly glare she shot him had sent shivers down his spine. It also didn’t help that Clint had told him that Natasha could kill a man with a post-it note. Which was random but also terrifying. And Tony had no doubt it was true. So he just let Natasha be after that. 

She was assigned to be the distraction, along with Steve. They were supposed to be on a see-saw, luring the haunted house visitors to look at them. Then, Clint would start laughing and that was Tony’s cue to pop out of his box. 

Oh yeah. He was assigned to be in a box. Like a Jack-in-the-box. Or rather, Tony-in-the-box. 

The box was wooden, with little gaps in the wood so that he could both breathe and see outside the box. But nobody would know he was in the wooden box. His job was to fling open the lid of the box and scream at people coming by. Which, Thor assured him, would be very scary since he also looked horrifying. 

So here Tony was, crouching in this tiny ass wooden box, waiting for Clint to laugh. He could see Steve on the see-saw with Natasha. Why the fuck couldn’t he be the one on the see-saw? Why couldn’t acrobat Clint be in the box? This was unfair as hell.

“Heieieieeie! HEEIIEIEI!” Clint’s demonic laugh rang out as Tony heard people gasp. This was his cue. 

“AHHHH!” Tony screeched as he jumped up, flinging the lid of the box open. The group in front of him screamed in terror as they jerked back from where they had been standing. 

“OH MY GOD. OH MY—” One girl wailed as another student dramatically clutched his chest. Tony exaggeratedly growled at the students in an attempt to not laugh at their reactions. Sufficiently scared, the group cautiously shuffled to the next room as Tony grinned. 

Tony glanced over at Steve who flashed him a thumps-up from his seat on the see-saw. Okay, so maybe this wouldn’t be too bad, Tony thought as he lowered himself back into the box, making sure to shut the lid after himself. 

He was made for this. Hell, he should probably consider a side career in acting in horror films. Tony Stark — Horror Extraordinaire. 

“HEIIIII IEEEH!” Clint yowled, jerking Tony out of his musings. He sprung up, screaming at the already frightened students. 

The students reacted much the same way the previous group did, and Tony dropped down into the box once again. He was definitely going to look into horror movie auditions. Seriously. 

******************************

An hour and a half later, and Tony was beyond miserable. Strike that about this being a decent station, it was a decent station for probably everyone _ but _ Tony. 

His knees were killing him thanks to constantly crouching and then springing up. His throat felt raw after doing scream after scream. His head and back hurt from the lid of the box slamming down on him by accident. And he was pretty sure he had at least three different slivers of wood stuck in his hands from the jagged edges of the box. 

10 pm could not come fast enough. He had thankfully signed up for only two hours instead of three, so he only had thirty minutes left of this torture. 

Clint gave off his signature yell, and Tony shoved the lid off the box, howling at the people in front of him. Shrieks and scared laughs greeted him, and Tony growled menacingly at the people as they moved on to the next room. 

Tony sighed, looking over at the other scare actors at his station. “Hey, does anyone want to switch with me? My entire body is killing me, and I feel like how Steve looks, in other words, dead as all hell,” Tony complained stretching his sore back.

“I wish I could switch with you, Tony, but I wouldn’t fit in that box,” Steve sympathetically told him. “Could you maybe switch with Clint or Natasha?”

“Yeah, no! I’m perfectly happy where I am. Suck it up, Stark,” Clint waggled his tongue at Tony. How he had stayed in that pretzel position was beyond Tony because he could barely handle crouching in a box. 

“Oh fuck you, bird-brain,” Tony huffed, rubbing his head where the box had slammed so many times. It was a miracle he didn’t have a concussion already. But, then again, would he necessarily know if he did? He was beyond exhausted. 

“You’ve got thirty minutes left, Stark. Just get through it and then I’ll take over. Besides, you’ve got a very good scream,” Natasha pursed her lips at him as she glanced at his ragged self. “Who would have known? Stark is a professional screamer.”

Tony glared at her, crossing his arms. “One, I am a man of many talents, thank you very much. Two, if I am permanently physically damaged from this night, I blame you, Clint and Natasha,” Tony sighed, starting to fold himself back into the box. “Humans are not meant to curl up like snakes in boxes!” He whined, shutting the lid after him.

“Hush! People are coming!” Natasha scolded him, a menacing edge to her voice. Tony shut his mouth, and waited for Clint’s shriek. 

Just thirty more minutes. Well, twenty-five now, Tony told himself. Honestly, he just wanted to go home and soak himself in an ice bath. This was not fun anymore. It was legal torture, that’s what it was. And he hadn’t even gotten time to flirt with Steve.

At least he had his number. One step at a time, Tony reminded himself as he braced himself to scare more people. 

Clint screamed, and Tony obediently leaped out of the box screeching at probably the 230th group of the night. After the group moved on to the next room, Tony didn’t even bother complaining to his coworkers. After all, they’d just tell him to suck it up. 

He reached to swing the lid of the box shut, but his hand slipped and the wooden lid whacked him on the head for the twelfth time that night. 

“Fuck,” Tony hissed, rubbing his sore head. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to stuff a student in a wooden box with no padding was a knucklehead. A total numbskull. Someone that Tony was going to have to take up a fight with because this was just cruel. 

And, oh surprise, there was his cue again.

“ARRRRR!” Tony snarled at the cowering students. He robotically moved to grab the lid, but an uncertain “Tony?” stopped him.

“Huh?” Tony whirled around, squinting in the dim light. 

“Oh my god! It _ is _him! Holy shit man, you look horrifying!” A familiar voice rang out towards Tony. 

“Rhodey?” Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. He had totally forgotten that Pepper and Rhodey had plans to check out the haunted house.

“And Pepper,” Pepper cut in. “But, Tony, you really scared us! That was one very unique scream.” Pepper giggled, her smile just barely visible in the darkness of the room. 

“Hey! Next group’s gonna come in soon! Nat, scare Tony’s posse off, would you?” Clint hollered, breaking up the conversation.

Natasha stood up, walked over to Rhodey and Pepper and narrowed her eyes. “Out. Now,” Natasha calmly stated, her voice like ice.

“Yeah, okay, got it, no problem,” Rhodey stammered. “Damn, I think she should be the main attraction or something, that was scary.” Rhodey whispered to Pepper as they hurried out of the room without a backward glance at Tony.

“Okay, wow, thanks for getting rid of the only entertainment I’ve had in like two hours,” grumbled Tony, leaning on the side of his box.

“Get back in your box, Stark,” Natasha shot back, sitting back down on the see-saw. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Tony rolled his eyes, reluctantly dropping into his enclosure. On the bright side, he only had ten minutes left. 

Ten minutes and then sweet, glorious freedom. Fresh air. No more repetitive circus music. No wooden boxes. No sadistic scare actors. Tony could barely wait.

After yet another round of screaming and box jumping, Tony heard a knock on the side of his box. “Stark.” Natasha’s voice called out. 

“Huh? Yeah?” Tony opened the lid to look at Natasha who was standing in front of him. “There’s still like seven minutes left.”

“And I’ve decided I can’t stand looking at your pathetic self struggling to get the lid open anymore,” Natasha crossed her arms. “You and Steve can go now, seven minutes isn’t going to make that big of a difference.”

“Oh thank God, thank you, finally someone has mercy on my poor soul,” rambled Tony as he struggled to lift himself out of the box. However, after all the constant strain on his muscles of jumping and crouching, his strength was gone. He awkwardly tried to lift his left leg over the side of the box, but nope, he had zero strength left to swing his other leg over. 

“Hurry up!” Natasha told him, grabbing his right leg and trying to swing it over the box. Which should have helped, but Tony lost his grip on the side on the side of the box and ended up slamming his back against a corner of the box. 

“Owww,” Tony winced as a sharp spike of pain shot up from his already aching back. “That hurt quite a bit, I’ll have you know.” Tony glanced meaningfully at Natasha. 

The sound of excited chatter wafted into the room, and Tony groaned. “The next group is almost here, and I’m stuck in this box!” 

“We’ll get you out after this group,” Natasha told him, and she gently pushed him back inside the box. 

Tony nearly groaned out loud as he felt his knees and back protest with his resumed position back inside the box. One more time, one more time, Tony chanted to himself, as he waited for Clint’s yell.

“AIEIEIEIEEEE!” And there it was, that ridiculous sound. Tony weakly pushed open the lid and screamed at the people in front of him. 

This time, the group didn’t react as violently as previous groups, but hell if Tony cared. He was sick of this, and he just wanted to get out of the goddamn box. 

The group walked to the next room and Tony sighed. “Okay, someone, please get me out of here, I’m fucking done with this.”

Natasha looked at him thoughtfully and then grinned. “Steve!” She exclaimed, grabbing the blond by the arm.

“Yeah?” Steve looked over at Natasha. Realization dawned on his face. “You want me to lift Tony out of the box?” 

“Yes,” Natasha nodded as Steve walked over to Tony.

Oh great. Now Steve was going to pick him up like some weak cat out of a basket. This was more embarrassing than the high school evacuation. Steve must think of Tony as entirely pathetic. But no time for sulking over that because Steve was literally about to lift him. 

“Is it okay if I just grab you from under your arms?” Steve asked, kindly looking at Tony, no judgment in his eyes (as far as Tony could tell with this damn poor lighting).

“Yeah sure, whatever position works best for you,” Tony answered, grimacing when he realized the double meaning of his words. Smooth move, Stark, he sarcastically congratulated himself. 

Luckily Steve didn’t seem fazed by his words, as he gently wrapped his hands under Tony’s arms and lifted him smoothly out of the box. Which was quite impressive considering Tony was not that small of a guy to begin with. But then again, Steve was built with muscles that could rival a Greek god, so Tony wasn’t super surprised. 

Steve set him down outside the box and dropped his arms from where they had been around Tony. He stepped back carefully, still politely smiling at Tony. “Ready to go?” Steve asked, his face revealing no discomfort at having been so close to Tony a few seconds ago.

“Thanks for that, and yeah, I’m ready to get outta here,” replied Tony, still trying to mentally process how close they had just been. Steve had barely held him for more than a few seconds, but the feeling of those strong arms wrapped around him sent all kinds of desires loose in Tony’s mind. 

Which was something Steve definitely didn’t need to know. 

“See you later!” Steve called out to Clint and Natasha, waving a hand at them.

Natasha gave a quick nod and Clint gave a whoop as he waved back. “Have fun with your newfound freedom!” Clint yelled as Steve and Tony left the room.

“That was beyond exhausting,” Tony mumbled as Steve pushed open a door, leading them out into the chilly night air. “I love Halloween and all, but that was painful and a violation of Amendment Eight in my opinion.”

Steve laughed, as they began walking down the stairs from the auditorium building. “I feel bad that you had to be in that box for so long, but I really think you did a great job scaring the students.” 

Tony grinned, his stomach flipping as Steve complimented him. “Thanks, you did really well on the see-saw too,” Tony offered awkwardly. “Very good, uh, see-sawing?”

“Oh yes, that’s a skill I’ve been perfecting for a while now,” Steve deadpanned, eliciting giggles from both of them. 

“Did you scare your friend?” Tony asked, carefully stepping around the puddle at the bottom of the first flight of stairs. 

“Bucky?” Steve furrowed his eyebrows as he considered Tony’s question. “Actually, no, I don’t think he even saw me, he was busy talking to some friends when he passed through.”

“Wow, that sucks,” Tony frowned, thinking about how Pepper and Rhodey had at least stopped to talk to him for a few seconds.

“That’s classic Buck,” Steve rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “Oblivious and distracted.”

“Sounds like a swell guy,” joked Tony, wrapping his coat tighter around himself. It really was way colder than it should be this time of year. 

“Do you want to walk back to the dorms together?” Steve asked, zipping up his own jacket.

“Uh, sure. I live on the fourth floor of—” Tony began.

“I know,” Steve interrupted and then blushed. “That was a little fast, sorry. I just see you coming out of your room sometimes, and I live on the fourth floor too.”

Tony stared at him. What the fuck? He lived on the same floor of the same building as Steve and he was only finding this out just _ now _? The universe was pranking him, big time.

“Seriously? I did not know that,” Tony shook his head. “And here I like to think of myself as observant.”

“It’s no big deal, you’re really busy, you can’t be expected to know who all your floormates are,” Steve remarked, walking steadily alongside Tony towards the dorms. 

A few beats of silence passed as Tony racked his brain for something to say. Something witty, something flirty, something _ good _. 

“So,” started Tony at the same time as Steve said “Hey.” 

They both stared at each other for a second and then laughed.

“You first,” Tony said, feeling himself blush for the millionth time that night. (He usually never blushed, seriously what was wrong with him today?)

Steve opened his mouth to object and then seemed to think better of it. He cleared his throat before restarting, “I was just wondering...because it seems like we haven’t really hung out, but we, uh, seem interested in each other’s projects and…stuff. I was just,” Steve sighed, before running a hand through his hair again. 

“Okay this is not coming out as smoothly as I wanted it to, but I’ve been meaning to ask you this since high school, and if you don’t want to, it’s fine, but I was just wondering, uh,” Steve stammered, a splotchy blush extending across his face despite the gray makeup still on him. 

Tony’s heart hammered in his chest as he waited for Steve to continue. Please. Please. _ Please _ may Steve say what Tony thought he was about to say. 

“I,” Steve continued, biting his lip. “I was just...would you...I mean, do you...want to go on a date with me, maybe? Like coffee?” Steve finished, his eyes wide and his hands fidgeting together. He looked adorably uncertain, and Tony felt his heart explode in excitement.

No fucking way had Steve Rogers just asked him on a date. This wasn’t, couldn’t be real. Maybe he had hit his head harder with that wooden lid than he thought. Or maybe, somehow this was actually happening.

“I’m pretty sure it’s actually happening,” Steve said, and Tony gasped. Shit, was he talking aloud? 

“Oh God, you didn’t need to hear that, I mean you’re welcome to hear my thoughts, wait, that sounds weird, but yes. Yes, I’d actually really fucking love to go on a date with you, holy fuck, sorry, I’m just having a bit of a moment,” Tony pressed a hand to his forehead. 

“You really want to go on a date with me? Me, Tony? Seriously?” Tony gawked, still trying to reboot his brain from the crazy loop it was running.

“Yes, you, Tony. I’ve been wanting to get the guts to ask you for a while now, and I know how much you like Halloween, so I actually only volunteered at this haunted house because Bucky told me you’d probably be here since you love Halloween so much, and I figured I should take a chance and ask while I still felt somewhat brave.” 

Tony was speechless. Steve had done this. For him? “I am honored that you got made-up as a dead person and see-sawed for two hours just so you could ask me on a date,” Tony told him, as he widely grinned. “That’s actually the best and most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.” 

“I’m glad you think so,” Steve replied, snorting as he wiped some of the wax off his lips.

“That’s it, Halloween is officially the best fucking thing to ever exist. I have been blessed by the power of the Halloween gods, and I am eternally grateful,” Tony clasped his hands dramatically as Steve shook his head. “Sure you can handle the dramatic side of me?” Tony smirked at Steve.

“I just handled two hours of you screaming at people while dressed as a clown, so I’m pretty sure I’m qualified to handle your dramatic side,” grinned Steve. 

“Well you know what they say, haunted houses make good first dates,” Tony waggled his eyebrows at Steve.

“I’m pretty sure nobody says that, but I don’t disagree,” Steve smiled and tentatively took Tony’s hand in his. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty cold, and I wouldn’t mind sitting down for some pizza and Halloween films back in my dorm.” 

“Darling, you know me so well already,” Tony replied and huddled closer to Steve as they continued walking back to the dorm. 

Yep, this was definitely the best Halloween Tony had ever had, and if he had to endure two hours of getting beat up by a box in a haunted house, then so be it.

Because this was more than worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! :)


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